1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and a firmware application method.
2. Description of the Related Art
A monitoring system that remotely monitors the operation state of a peripheral apparatus such as an image forming apparatus and the like has been proposed. In the monitoring environment provided by the monitoring system, it is contemplated that the firmware of the image forming apparatus be updated as a function of the monitoring system. Here, there is a case where the firmware applied to the image forming apparatus needs to be updated due to an upgrade of firmware or a fault occurring in the image forming apparatus. In such a case, conventionally, a service person has had to visit a customer to update firmware manually. Hence, the update of firmware has become a high cost. Accordingly, a technology that stores firmware in a re-writable storage device such as a flash memory or the like, and transmits firmware via Internet by means of an electronic mail or the like to thereby carry out the update of firmware has recently been proposed.
In addition, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-256143 discloses a portable electronic device that performs communication via an update server and a communication line to thereby carry out the update of firmware. The portable electronic device automatically accesses the update server at a predetermined timing and transmits a request signal that requests the update of firmware. Then, the portable electronic device receives the firmware transmitted from the update server that has responded to the request signal. Also, when the electric voltage of the battery power source becomes smaller than a predetermined value, the portable electronic device stops the reception of firmware.
Here, under an environment in which the operation state of the image forming apparatus is being remotely monitored, a system in which the updated firmware is downloaded to the update region of the image forming apparatus, and subsequently applies the firmware to thereby carry out the update of firmware is contemplated. However, in the system, when the image forming apparatus cannot ensure a sufficient capacity for the update region of firmware, the following problems may occur. When there is firmware that has already been downloaded to the image forming apparatus, a service person must visit a site, delete the firmware from the image forming apparatus, and then apply the firmware for updating, which has been prepared in advance, to the image forming apparatus. Also, the firmware for updating, which has been prepared in advance, may not be the best one as the firmware to be applied to the image forming apparatus. Furthermore, when the image forming apparatus cannot ensure a sufficient capacity for the update region of firmware despite the fact that the update of firmware to the image forming apparatus has already been reserved, the reservation must be cancelled.